Sunrise Safari

[Rneighh]

Is the only way to do a Sunrise Safari is stay at the conceirge level at AKL. I really think my Mom 72 and DD 10 and 13 would love this but I had not planned on conciege for a 6 day visit to AKL in Feb. Any suggestions?

Renee

78 offsite
97 DxL
98 offsite
02 CSP
03 AKL

 

[Richyams]

From everything I have read and understand, you do need to be a concierge guest. I don't have any experience or recall reading that someone was granted an exception.

 

[ducklite]

Sorry, there are no exceptions. You need to be a concierge guest. You might want to look into staying concierge. You'll be able to eat breakfast in the lounge each morning, and appetizers before dinner plus dessert afterwards. The cost savings might make it affordable.

Anne

 

[SuiteDisney]

I've done the Sunrise Safari twice and you have to be an AKL concierge guest. We're going to do it again in August so we can take the kids. We're only spending the first night at the AKL so the kids can explore the resort, the adults can rest after a long drive, and we can do the Sunrise Safari the next morning. Then we're transferring to BWV for the rest of our vacation.

Here's a link to my trip report and pictures of the Sunrise Safari .

 

[grumpyandbashful]

You can always book just one night in concierge so that you can do the safari, and then move to a regular room.
My DH stayed at the AKL in Feb. and asked at check-in if he could upgrade to concierge for one day so that he could do the SS. They let him do this, and he was given a key to use the elevator to go up to the concierge lounge for that day only. (He stayed in his non-concierge room and paid the difference for one day). If your heart is set on the SS, I would book one night in concierge to do make sure you can do it.

 

[Richyams]

I got all excited to see Sunrise Safari pictures, the account has been shut down for bandwidth excess....come back in an hour.
We will be doing the safari in October. We are only taking a short trip, so I decided to go for the concierge.

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by grumpyandbashful
You can always book just one night in concierge so that you can do the safari, and then move to a regular room.
My DH stayed at the AKL in Feb. and asked at check-in if he could upgrade to concierge for one day so that he could do the SS. They let him do this, and he was given a key to use the elevator to go up to the concierge lounge for that day only. (He stayed in his non-concierge room and paid the difference for one day). If your heart is set on the SS, I would book one night in concierge to do make sure you can do it.

Due to the large number of guests doing just this, I've heard rumours (unconfirmed, but it makes sense) that anyone staying only one night as a concierge guest will be "standby" for the safari, and will be accomodated only if there are spaces available. Apparantly there have been numerous complaints from guests who are staying several or more nights that they were unable to get in, and then found out that guests who had upgraded for one night only got in.

Anne

 

[lookingforward]

I just stayed at the AKL concierge last week. We did the sunrise safari and it was one of the major highlights of our two week trip! It is true that you have to be a concierge guest. I was going to invite my mom up for the day and they told me that I would have to book her a room for one night on the concierge level for her to come along on the safari. They did not seem to discourage me from booking just the one night stay in order for her to do that. As it turned out she did not come with us. The safari had only one seat left the day of, and then a party of two cancelled so a family of three was called at the last minute to join us.

During slower times it seems possible to book the safari a day or two prior but I was told it is an immensly popular perk. On our safari there was one infant and three toddlers but it was not a problem or distraction. My three year old daughter was totally intranced with the whole tour. I have to say that we saw more animals during the sunrise tour then we did on three seperate regular safari rides. The guides stopped the tram countless times to allow for picture taking and gave wonderful and passionate commentary about the animals and the people who work with them. They even show you the behind the scenes places where they train and house the animals. The breakfast was awesome too. The cooks seem very proud and eager to please and the food was wonderful. It was a really special morning!

**HINT: If you want to take really good pictures on the sunrise safari I would suggest sitting in the middle or towards the front of the tram where the guide sits. Whenever they stopped the tram the people in the back (who had run ahead of everyone to score the back seats) complained that they did not have a good shot. They tried to accomadate them and pull up after we all got our shots but they never had as much time or opportunity as we did. My husband thought it was funny since they were so intent on getting the back seats and pushed through everyone. I felt sorry for them because it seemed that the pictures meant a lot to them. Also, if you sit closer to the guides you can ask more questions, etc.

 

[Rneighh]

You all have convinced me --- I'm going to book the last two or three nights at conceirge and do the safari. I can't wait and it will be a surprise for my mom and kids. I am not planning on telling them until we have to pack up to move. I assume we just have the suitcases packed and the conceirge staff will move us while we are at the parks. It that correct.

Renee

 

[ducklite]

Lookingforward,

I'm glad your daughter was entranced on the safari. When we took it, there were several 1-3 year olds who were not. They were restles and cranky through the entire thing. Between them and the dirty, smelly, gross couple, it was kind of a bummer. The one kid was right behind DH and I, and kept kicking the seat and whining the entire time.

I came off the safari feeling that they should really have a minimum age to ride it. It was a real let down to spend that much money and not be able to hear about thirty percent of what the guide was saying because of the brat behind us. He was also walking around the seats...and I was kind of secretly wishing that he might slip when we were on the bridge over the alligators... OK, not really, but it was a nice wish at the time

Anne